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Some venture capital firms are striking deals claiming a percentage of royalties, as Aisling Capital and Clarus Ventures recently did with Pharmacyclics' tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib. "[T]he royalty play illustrates the 'new normal' in life sciences VC investing: a search for investments with short time horizons; a lack of faith in preclinical or even phase I molecules and the teams developing them; and an irresistible pull to 'sure-fire' deals of a more financial nature," writes CBT Advisors CEO Steve Dickman.

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Rich nations lag behind low- and middle-income countries in developing genomics for public health, a recent investigation by the ESRC Genomics Network and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found. Genomics has been used to track and predict disease outbreaks and to boost efficacy and production of vaccines, but high-income countries are not prioritizing public health over the development of stratified medicines and are not engaging in international collaborations for infectious disease control, the groups said.

Luke Timmerman has updated his list of people in the biotech world worth following on Twitter. The list includes company insiders and executives, venture capitalists and investors, scientists, physicians, journalists and others.

The FDA granted breakthrough therapy status to Janssen Biotech and Pharmacyclics' ibrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor, as a treatment for relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma and Waldenström's macroglobulinemia. The companies plan to submit the drug for approval for mantle cell lymphoma in 2013.

Janssen Biotech paid Pharmacyclics a $50 million milestone fee after a fifth patient was enrolled in a clinical study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma drug ibrutinib. The payment is related to a development and marketing agreement signed last year. "We formed this partnership with Janssen, with the intention to broadly expand and propel the clinical development of ibrutinib," Pharmacyclics CEO Bob Duggan said.

A pill that reduces a man's sperm would offer an alternative to what men are using now for birth control, namely condoms and vasectomies. The tablet is about 95% effective when used in conjunction with progestin.